What Happened After
by Aria2302
Summary: One-shot supplemental to Waking Dreams (Hiei/OC). Why did Hiei have Kurama send Aria away from the temple? Where did he go while she was living alone? How did he find the Heart Seeker's Glass? Your questions finally answered!


What Happened After

 _One-shot supplemental to Waking Dreams (Hiei/OC). Why did Hiei have Kurama send Aria away from the temple? Where did he go while she was living alone? How did he find the Heart Seeker's Glass? Your questions finally answered!_

* * *

It was raining again.

 _Why does it always rain in this blasted part of the Makai?_ Hiei thought to himself.

Hiei hated the rain.

It was quite possibly the only tolerable part of Human World – the rain didn't smell like anything but petrichor. Makai rain stuck to the skin and clothes, and made one reek of death. It wasn't a bad smell to linger in the air, but Hiei didn't like smelling like it all the time.

He glanced down at the hastily scrawled map, shielding the oilcloth with his body. A particularly cold drop of rain slipped down his back, having snuck past his scarf. He shuddered a little. Regardless of if he found the _right_ cave, he needed to find some shelter.

No, he _wanted_ shelter. He didn't _need_ it.

He glanced around from the high treetop, eyes keen for – _there it is,_ he thought.

Nearly concealed by thick overhanging vines, was a small cave entrance. It was somewhat surprising that he had failed to see it the first few times looking out over the landscape. Hiei blamed the rain.

Hiei flitted inside, spiking his body temperature to flash-steam the rain off his cloak, and took stock of his surroundings.

 _This is not a natural formation,_ he thought. He was in a short tunnel that split in two at a perfect 90-degree turn in two directions only twenty feet into the cave. Hiei looked left and right – they looked identical, and with a slight curve deeper into the mountain. _A circle?_

Hiei darted left – traps are more likely to be to the right-hand side. People instinctively choose to turn right when lost. Hiei always went left.

He was right – the tunnel curved around in a large, gentle circle. There were no changes in slope or angle, and no side chambers. Hiei pushed a little faster, aiming to get back to the ante-tunnel.

But it never came.

Hiei stopped, frowning.

He turned around, and retraced his footsteps at double-speed.

 _I only ran for twenty-six seconds_ , he thought. _I should get back in thirteen._

It never came.

The circle wound around and around and around.

Hiei stopped sharply, kicking up a rock. He snarled. He reached out to the wall, flexed his energy, and left a scorching handprint on the stone. _There, a marker._

He turned around, and ran back again. It took twenty seconds before he passed his handprint.

 _What the fuck?!_

* * *

 **The strange woman before him wasn't afraid. Her blue eyes could always find him, and they would glitter with a hint of a smile. But she looked lonely that night, so Hiei had ignored his better instincts when she called for his presence.**

 **And now she said she wasn't afraid – that she believed he wouldn't hurt her. "I think you care too much," she said, reaching for him, and her fingers brushed his cheek – cool against his hot skin.**

 **Hiei snapped backwards reflexively, unaccustomed to familiar touches like that.** _ **Strange**_ **,** _ **that she thinks I care for her, when I can't even let her touch me**_ **.** _ **No**_ **, he thought.** _ **I just can't let anything happen to her.**_ **But wasn't that the same thing? How had he let it get this far? How could he have lost that iron-clad control he had over every aspect of his form?**

 **Hiei grabbed her arm out of the air, and she looked shocked – barely a second had passed since she reached for him.**

 _ **I can't care for you,**_ **his inner voice insisted, and it was projected outwards in a hideous way. This horrible lie was spewing from his mouth, and he could see the hurt in her eyes, followed by confusion, and a cry of pain as the burn from his own heated pain etched into her skin.**

 _ **I can't need you,**_ **he needed to say. He had to hurt her. He had to get rid of the confused buzzing that muddled his thoughts every time she was around. He needed to get away from those blue eyes that could always find him.**

 _ **I can't want you,**_ **he insisted, and released her burning arm. She fell backwards, and Hiei had to restrain the instinct to catch her fall. There was pain etched across her face as she cradled her burnt arm. "Fuck you," she swore, and through the anger and pain he could see confusion, and a mirror of his own emotional turmoil.** _ **Don't look at me like that.**_

 **Hiei dashed away, hating that he was unable to stand there so casually while she suffered.**

* * *

He was _trapped_ in that damnable cave. Hiei ran for what was definitely an eternity, and the cave went on forever. He ran for hours, in circles and circles and circles; clockwise and counterclockwise and clockwise again.

The cave never changed.

Hiei flexed his energy, and as he ran the cave walls glowed with heat, threatening to liquefy and drown him in molten stone.

But the cave never changed.

Hiei was on the verge of roaring out in frustration because _who the hell dies in a cave trying to help a human girl?_

He stopped to pound his fists into the unyielding stone, and when his hands were good and bloody, sat down on the floor of the cave to think.

He needed to think. The silence of the cave was deafening, making it impossible.

Hiei growled, and clenched his bloody fists. He had exerted an incredibly amount of energy in the last few hours. He just needed to sit for a minute, then he would try again.

And suddenly, there _she_ was.

"Hiya," she greeted, waving casually. She smiled – positively beaming – and her blue eyes sparkled. She was only wearing a black t-shirt and jeans. No shoes, for some reason. She tossed her head slightly, throwing her hair over one shoulder, and her translation charm earrings glittered lightly. She pushed off from the opposite wall where she was leaning, and took the four strides required to cross the narrow cave.

Hiei blinked up at her, not quite processing what was going on. "Onna – what are you _doing_ here?"

* * *

" **Fox," Hiei snapped, letting himself in Kurama's window with easy grace.**

 **Kurama barely spared him a glance, before he noticed the expression on his face. "Hiei – what's wrong?"**

 **Hiei's hands were clenched in tight fists. "Get her out of there."**

 **Kurama blinked, visibly perplexed. "Aria? What happened?"**

" **None of your business," Hiei snapped. "I'm leaving. Put her somewhere in the city."**

" **No," Kurama denied casually.**

 **Hiei was stricken with shock. "If you don't get her out of there I'll slit her throat!"**

" **I don't believe you will," Kurama retorted.** _ **Damn fox**_ **.**

" **Don't test me," Hiei snarled.**

 **Kurama held up his hands in surrender. "I'm not testing you, my friend. I just don't believe you."**

 **They stood in silence.**

" **She's afraid. And lonely."**

 **Hiei's glare only intensified. "Hn. I don't know why you're bothering to tell me."**

" **She could use a friend, don't you think?" Kurama wheedled, but Hiei wasn't budging an inch.**

" **Do whatever you want, Fox; just get rid of her – out of this temple and away from all this nonsense before it gets her killed," Hiei tried to reign in any sense of concern – the temple was a hotspot of activity, and it wouldn't do her any good to stay there. She** _ **would**_ **be safer away from the temple, and then maybe he would be able to think with a clear head again.**

" **It sounds like you care about her wellbeing, Hiei," Kurama raised an eyebrow, and something unpleasantly similar to a smile was about to appear on his smug face.**

" **I can't stand to look at that awful human," Hiei snapped.**

 **Kurama nodded. "Of course. How foolish of me to assume otherwise."**

 **Hiei left with a parting growl, and was chased away by Kurama's laughter.**

 **Damn fox.**

* * *

She shrugged, but with only one shoulder, as was her way. "I thought you must be bored; coming out here all by your lonesome." She sat down on the cave floor next to him, tucking her feet up under her. "Yeesh – it's _freezing_ in here!" She rubbed her arms, trying to get the blood flowing.

"You're going to freeze to death," Hiei commented almost automatically.

"Very observant," she replied, trying to rub away the goosebumps on her arms.

Hiei removed his cloak with a swift motion, throwing it at her. "Fool."

"Thanks," she replied, wrapping herself in the soft material. She didn't bother replying to Hiei's insult, he noted. She buried her face in his cloak, inhaling deeply. "Smells like you."

Hiei snorted. "Of course it does." She didn't reply to his snark, so he had to press for answers. "Onna, how did you get here?"

She one-shoulder shrugged again. "You wanted me here, so I'm here." She gave him one of those tiny grins – a _don't be angry with me, I'm adorable_ , grin.

Hiei recoiled sharply. "You're not really here at all," he snarled, both horrified and disgusted – a hallucination? An illusion? It was damned convincing either way.

"I'm as real as you want me to be." The fake Aria reached out for him, and he jumped a little as he felt a cool hand touch his arm. _This isn't real – she's not here_ , he had to remind himself. He snapped his arm away and stood sharply to put more distance between them, but felt an ache in his chest at the hurt expression that crossed her face. It looked identical to when he had last seen her… _she's not here. This isn't real._

" _Don't touch me_ ," He hissed.

Aria's crestfallen expression dug uncomfortably at his intestines. "I'm sorry, I thought-" She stood to follow him, reaching out to tug on his sleeve – _like she did that night she got her tattoo, and was attacked, and-_

"Stop wearing her face!" He snapped, drawing his katana. Aria was too close, and though she tried to step out of the draw range of his katana, Hiei still nicked her arm with his razor-sharp blade. It was so sharp it took a moment for her body to realize it had been cut, and for her to cry out, clamping her hand over the sudden bleeding.

 _Shit,_ Hiei swore in his head. The metallic scent of her blood was an assault on his already frazzled senses. Without really thinking, he tore his white scarf from around his neck and yanked her hand aside. "Move your hand, fool; let me see."

She was shaking slightly, and her tearful face was scrunched up in a most unattractive manner. Hiei wiped the blood away with his scarf, confirming what he already thought – it wasn't deep enough for real concern. He wrapped her arm tightly with his scarf, and she yelped a bit when he knotted it.

"I'm really sorry, Hiei," she mumbled, hiccupping.

"Shut up," he ordered. "And stop that incessant noise; it offends my ears."

Surprisingly, she was able to stop on command.

* * *

 **It wasn't hard to find a breach in the barrier between the human and demon worlds. The stupid thing always had holes in it, causing the majority of the problems between the two worlds. It didn't help that the oaf had cut a giant hole in it not too long ago.**

 **Hiei spent a fair amount of time doing nothing. He wouldn't say it felt** _ **good**_ **to be home, but he was relieved of the barrage of sights and sounds that threatened to overwhelm his senses in the human world.**

 **But nothing smelled quite like Honeysuckle.**

* * *

"So…" Aria drawled, sitting back down on the cave floor, "what are we doing?"

Hiei didn't like how she was cradling her bandaged arm, but didn't comment. _You have no reason to care; she is just an illusion._

"Looking for a way out."

"I can see why - It's really dark in here," she muttered.

True – for human eyes, it was pitch black. To demon eyes, it was merely dim. Which begged the question: "How did you see me at all?" Hiei asked.

She pointed to her own eyes. "Your eyes glow in the dark, darlin'; makes you easy to find. Anything else, though, is another matter entirely."

So she was sitting in complete darkness? _Serves her right_ , Hiei thought to himself. He could see now how her eyes could only focus on his, and were fully dilated. She looked like she was concealing fear, which wouldn't be surprising.

"Stay here," he ordered, tapping her foot with his own. She jumped slightly, but nodded. Hiei flickered away, zipping around the circle to find – _ah, there's one_ – a hefty stick she could use as a torch. He swung it around experimentally, and found it satisfactory.

 _Why am I bothering with this_ , he grumbled _, she's not real._

Hiei dropped the stick, and kicked it away for good measure. _Stop being sentimental._

He leaned against the cave wall, and banged the back of his head against the stone for good measure. _She's not here. She's in the human world. She can't haunt you if you don't let her._

He tried repeating it like a mantra. Over time, another sound caught his ear, making him stop. He leaned forward from the wall, listening.

It was a shaky little hiccup, and a shuffling step.

Hiei sighed heavily.

Slowly – at a snail's pace, even – Aria was making her way down the tunnel. She had one hand braced on the wall, and another in front of her, grasping at the darkness.

Hiei retrieved the stick he had found for Aria, and flickered to her side. "What-" he was going to ask her what she was doing, but at the sound of his voice she was started so badly she screamed at the top of her lungs, making his ears ring.

Hiei ground his teeth together, convincing himself it would do no good to try and kill an illusion, no matter how obnoxious. He lifted the stick, and closed his hand over the tip. _Burn_ , he willed it.

The tip of the makeshift torch burst into a merry orange flame. It lit up her face instantly, and Hiei could see the puffy redness that had overtaken most of her face from crying. The hand that had been tracing the wall was all scratched and she had ripped at least one fingernail.

Once she recovered from the sudden bright light, her eyes widened and she started rambling. "Oh my god – Hiei! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scream like that, and I know you told me to stay put, but you didn't come back and I thought maybe you tripped and hit your head or something so I thought I should come find you-"

"Be. _Quiet_." She snapped her mouth shut. He shoved the torch into her hands. "Take this, and stop crying."

She wiped her tears on the backs of her hands – smearing cave dirt everywhere – and took the torch. "Thank you," she whispered, holding it as close as possible without burning herself.

"Hn."

* * *

 **He overheard it in the strangest place – a skeevy tavern in the middle of nowhere.** _ **There's a rumor some Heart-Seeker's Glass has been found**_ **, one large idiot was saying t another large idiot. They had a large sheet of oilcloth stretched out on the tavern table.** _ **Good stuff for ripping out someone's energy- we were lucky to get one of the maps!**_ **It was quick work to dispatch them and only a moment to rifle through their belongings. Dead men don't need maps.**

 **It was a crude map, but relatively easy to orient. Some distance away, a small cave was marked with a rough circle of ink.** _ **Simple enough,**_ **Hiei reasoned to himself. He rolled up the man and tucked it into his cloak.**

 **A waft of lingering scent from his sleeve caught his sensitive nose – Honeysuckle. Hiei lifted his sleeve and sniffed it – Aria had grabbed it there, trying to get his attention for something. She had managed to leave just enough scent to linger, even now. He wondered how he hadn't noticed it before.**

 **Hiei dropped his arm. He looked like a fool standing around a pile of dead bodies and sniffing his sleeve.**

 _ **To the West,**_ **he thought, following his newfound map.**

* * *

Aria walked mostly silently behind him as he walked around the circle over and over again, and then backwards – he was still convinced there was some trick to getting out. He wasn't going to give up.

Hiei's stomach growled uncomfortably – when had he last had anything to eat or drink? There wasn't a single sign of life in the barren cave – not even a lizard he could kill and eat. He also had no real way to mark time, and it had never been an easy concept for him to grasp – switching between human and demonic pacing tended to throw off one's sense of time.

So he could only go off his growing hunger and irritation as a time marker.

But Aria was still there, always just a few steps behind. She would chatter away until he finally snapped and told her to be silent.

She fell further behind, eyes downcast. She stopped trying to talk to him after he threatened to cut off her hands if she didn't shut up. Sometimes he was lucky enough that she would fall far enough behind that the light from her little makeshift torch would vanish around the bend.

She would usually catch up an hour or so after he stopped to rest, and sit across from him.

"Hey," she said one night – he assumed it was night, of course – reaching out a foot to nudge his. "So two bats are sitting in a cave, one looks at the other and says, _'I'm hungry. Think I'll go get some blood'._ So he flew out of the cave. About an hour later he comes back in with his face covered in blood. His buddy looks at him and says, _'Wow! How did you get all that blood?'.'Well...',_ he says, _'you know when you are flying out of the cave, you hang a right and then you see that tree in front of you...' 'Yeah?',_ says his buddy. He says, ' _Well...I didn't!'_ "Aria grinned at him widely.

There was a pregnant silence.

"That was the worst attempt at a joke I've ever heard."

Her face fell.

"I was just trying to make it a little less… lonely. I could tell you a story?" she offered.

"I know all of them," Hiei replied curtly. "I've seen all of your memories, remember?"

"Oh. Yeah." She fell silent, scuffing her foot along the cave floor.

For the first time, Hiei noticed how damaged the bottoms of her feet were. She had been walking barefoot in a cave for days on end, of _course_ her feet were ripped up. But he hadn't expected her silence on the matter.

 _She only complains about things that don't matter_ , Hiei remembered. _She could lose a hand entirely and not mention it for a week until someone asked her to pass the salt._

"If you are so desperate to hear the sound of your own voice, you may tell me a story." Her eyes lit up, and something twisted in Hiei's stomach. _"One_ story." He clarified, and she nodded.

She tucked her feet under her again, concealing her bloody excuses for feet under her borrowed cloak. Just the idea of telling him a story seemed to bring a little light back to her eyes, and color to her cheeks. "Ok, so let me tell you about the time I flipped a canoe in high school." She shuffled a little, trying to get comfortable against the cave wall.

Hiei almost told her to sit next to him; lean against him instead of the wall – she would be much more comfortable, not to mention warmer.

But that would be foolish.

Instead, he smirked and chuckled at appropriate places in her story. He could see the story in his head as vividly as she had described it – from the splintery seats in the canoe to the annoying buck-toothed boy who sat across from her.

A little laughter was good.

It was good.

* * *

Days passed.

Aria continued to tell her stories as they rested, if only to fill the emptiness. It was tolerable, and she seemed to enjoy talking.

Her voice was growing weaker, and she had to sit closer at night for him to hear her. She licked her lips, trying to soothe the dry, cracked flesh. They were both dying of thirst more than anything. Hiei didn't know how many days a human could go without drinking water.

One night, Aria dropped onto the cave floor directly next to him.

She apologized before he could protest; "I'm sorry, I'm just so tired, and so _cold_. Can't I just sit here for a minute?" she begged.

Hiei thought about making her move, but he was honestly too tired to force her. "Five minutes," he replied. Aria nodded, agreeing, and she smiled. She rested her head on his shoulder, and sighed deeply.

"Thank you," the words barely came out as she took a tired breath.

She fell asleep there.

Hiei didn't wake her when her five minutes lapsed.

She didn't mention it in the morning.

* * *

Hiei leaned against the cave wall, almost too tired to move. There was no way out; he had walked around and around the circle for days on end, and it never changed, varied, or altered course. There were no side rooms, no hidden chambers; it was just an infinite circle of hell.

Aria stood a little ways behind him, her little torch casting haunting shadows on the floor.

"Hiei?" she asked tentatively. Her voice didn't sound much stronger than he felt.

"Not another damn story, Onna!" he snapped.

She didn't reply, and Hiei internally swore. She hadn't done anything to deserve being snapped at – not at that moment, anyway. But he was tired, and _thirsty,_ and Aria was an easy target for his frustration.

He leaned forward, and used the momentum to take another step forward. Then another. He was going to keep walking, and find a way out, even if it killed him. He barely noticed when the light from her torch faded away. He only focused on his feet, and continuing to walk, his own hand braced on the side of the wall.

But the time finally came when he couldn't convince his feet to move anymore. He stopped, leaning heavily on the wall. _This is it_ , he thought, sitting down heavily.

He closed his eyes, and let his head rest against the cave wall.

He gave a small sigh.

"Onna, come here," he called into the darkness. She had fallen behind, of course, but doubtless she was somewhere lurking just out of sight. For his speed, the circle was only a few seconds around. For a human, it was hours. The light from her torch would appear, and she would be worried about him for whatever reason.

She didn't answer. No light ever came down the hall.

"Onna?" he called again after a time.

No answer.

Hiei struggled to stand – what had happened? Where was she?

" _Onna, answer me_!" He commanded, yelling into the darkness.

No answer.

He snarled. "Foolish woman."

He gathered what little remained of his strength and took off down the tunnel – back the way he had come. It was at such a slow pace he was almost embarrassed. He hadn't eaten anything in Kami knows how long, so the Onna couldn't have either.

He steeled himself, trying to draw on energy reserves that no longer seemed to exist and go faster, he needed to go faster.

" _Aria!"_ He cried out into the lonely emptiness. Had something happened? Maybe her torch went out, and she was stumbling in the darkness again. Or had she finally tripped and broken an ankle? A myriad of terrible thoughts settled like a stone in Hiei's gut.

 _I shouldn't have left her_.

And suddenly, there she was; leaning up against the wall, holding her little torch-light – she appeared so suddenly that Hiei almost ran right past her. She looked up in surprise, and smiled. "Hey, darlin'," she greeted weakly, her voice crackling dryly.

 _To hell with it_ , Hiei thought, and wrapped her tightly in his arms. She squeaked a little, but didn't pull away. "Where were you?" he asked, his voice husky, face buried into her shoulder. Her sweet Honeysuckle scent washed away the stone of his fears, and he found he could breathe properly again – when had it been hard to breathe?

"You yelled at me," Aria replied weakly, wrapping her arms around him to return the tight embrace.

He lifted his head to tuck hers under his chin, the last of his strength leaving him. "I'm sorry," he said, completely sincere. The apology meant so much more than just leaving her behind in the cave. It was for burning her. It was for leaving her at the temple.

She wrapped her arms around him, and he could hear the smile in her voice as she replied. "I'll always forgive you."

They sank to the cave floor together as their legs gave out at the same time. Hiei pulled Aria close, and she slept with her head on his shoulder.

* * *

She was gone when he woke.

It was a startling revelation, as neither of them had the strength to move another inch last night. " _Onna!"_ he called out, his voice stronger than it had been in days. _That's strange_ , he mused.

He wasn't so tired, either. Hiei leapt to his feet with surprising ease, and found his energy reserves relatively normal.

 _Think about that later_ , he thought, _need to find the wandering fool._ He darted down the cavern - and a small side chamber appeared where once there had only ever been blank wall. Hiei skidded to a stop.

This was new.

He hesitated a moment – go in the chamber, or look for Aria again? A sneaking suspicion arose that her disappearance and the side chamber's appearance were related.

Hiei stepped into the tiny chamber, eyes sweeping around suspiciously. There was a small box on a pedestal, and a few warm candles burning in an alcove on the wall. Hiei opened the box with some trepidation – it seemed innocent enough, but you could never be too careful.

Inside was a small knife with a glass blade.

"Heart-Seeker's Glass," piped up a voice from behind him. Hiei almost dropped the box in his surprise. Aria was leaning against the antechamber wall, hands tucked in her pockets. She looked clean – like she had in the first moment she had appeared.

"Onna?"

She shook her head. "I'm not your Aria, but you knew that; I'm the spirit who lives in this cave." Hiei's eyes narrowed suspiciously. The spirit who looked like Aria pointed to her head. "I took her out of your memories, and copied her form. Not bad, eh?" She smiled, and it was Aria's smile. It only infuriated him.

" _Why?_ " Hiei demanded, a hand on the hilt of his katana.

"Oh, that's no use – you can't touch me if I don't want you to." The spirit chuckled, using Aria's light laugh. "But, to answer your rude question – you needed something, right?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Hiei asked, still not understanding.

Aria made an exasperated face. "You were out in the rain, looking for a way to remove demonic energy from a human body. Then – suddenly, you saw a cave in front of you." She wiggled her hands around, as if she was conjuring magic. "I had to be certain that you were the best person to have it. Heart-Seeker's glass can be used to do really bad things."

"Why now?" he asked. "You've kept me in here for weeks – why now?"

"It's been a little more than two months, actually," the spirit corrected. "And last night was the first time you sought me – well, her really – out. You were concerned for her wellbeing, and went to find her at the cost of the last of your energy reserves. It was really quite selfless. You probably would have survived another month if you hadn't run around last night. You would have died here, but you would have been around another month."

She slapped one palm against the hard stone wall."The walls here absorb demonic energy at a rate equal to what you expend, so the more you ran, the more they could take from you. Even that little torch you made for me cost you dearly. If you had sat still like a good demon and not moved from the beginning, you probably could have survived for… oh, I don't know, ten years or so?" She shrugged. "That's how long the last demon lasted, anyway."

It was chilling to hear such cold words coming from Aria's mouth. "You got it all back, though, right?" she asked, head tilted to one side.

"Why her?"

"Who?" she asked, Aria's smile revealing she already knew the answer.

" _Aria_ ," he ground out. "Why her?"

"Oh – _her_." The copy smiled Aria's smile. "Because you're falling in love with her."

Hiei recoiled sharply. "Nonsense."

"Deny it if you want, but it's true." She pointed an accusatory finger at him. "You would have died alone and hungry in a cave trying to help her be free. If that's not love I don't know what is." She was fading like smoke into the air. "The Glass is yours, Hiei of the Jagan; go find your lady-love, and set her free."

Hiei could see the countless skeletons now, littering the sides of the cave.

He found his scarf – still white, and blood-stain free – sitting on the cave floor next to the entrance, right next to his cloak. He donned it swiftly, nothing that it didn't smell like Honeysuckle after all.

* * *

 _Fin._


End file.
